trips to andaman islands

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the year 1984, with our very close family friends we decide to fly to Port Blair in Andaman islands. The Harshavardhana is the equivalent of a cruise ship which used to sail to Port Blair but it would have taken longer and as dad cannot take such a long leave we fly down. at the airport we are excited to be flying and still remember spotting a ravi shastri look alike who we would later on discover at port blair. more on that later. i was 11, budding into my teens. there was some confusion in our young minds about vegetarian and non-vegetarian food and we arrived at a smallish airport and drove to Meghapode or that's what I think the name of the guest house was. We had a room over the dining area and my uncle and his family had a cottage. It was so pretty overlooking the bay. the view from the balcony overlooking the bay was also very beautiful. we could see ships at a distance and twinkling lights of the city area.

I do remember the Cellular Jail where many Indians were held captive during the Independence era. This is the jail from which Veer Savarkar had tried to escape. Mum had shopped for corals and I also remember a boat ride to Ross Island and having a picnic there. The time was for Christmas and New Year and the children had to organise games for the parents. i think there was a treasure hunt. It was all fun until I developed a crush on the cricketer look alike and dad over reacted and so I over reacted and that was such a spoiler. Anyways, we remember the plants we used to call 'Lajjaboti' or plants who are shy, at one touch they would recoil.

The guest house was at different levels of the hill and we had to climb down to the dining area. We used to joke that the ship would arrive today and we would get good food again. I think we ate deer meat one day. In the main city we went swimming and were bothered by locals. It was time to pack up and we returned after spending new year's eve there.

Cut back to the year 2007. The Kolkata branch managers were headed to Andamans for an outbound and I was supposed to join them. We arrived at Port Blair via Sahara and checked into the ITC there. This is also a lovely hotel with a view of the ocean from every room. Needless to say my bosses in Mumbai weren't happy about my involvement in the branch, but it's hard not to encounter such petty jealousies in any workplace. I was sharing my room with a close friend and colleague of mine. After the conference where I seemingly made a faux pas we had a dinner and dance. The next day we went trekking and it took the life out of me. the event manager gave us a shell to carry back.

We went to the cellular jail for a sound and light show, it was interesting as it brought alive the atrocities the British committed on our men. the next day we sailed to the Ross Island and wandered about the island a bit before returning to the hotel for a scrumptious fresh sea food dinner. At some point we drove to the beach and also to a government emporium for pretty shell earrings. From the hotel shop I bought this lovely pearl necklace and ring. All in all an enjoyable outbound.

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Comments

[Amita Nash]

Memorable Andaman tour
Hi i am Amita, Andaman is amazing… Beautiful.. Awesome… It totally rocks.I love the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. To me that's one of the finest places in India. If you wish to read more our website.... http://www.lifelinetourism.com/India/Andaman-and-Nicobar-holiday-packages/

[ziki]

Hi
Thanks for the tip, tc

[ziki]

hi
hi amrita..i am also looking at revenue options for my travel blog, recently i was contacted by someone from europe asking me to link my blog to their travel website but then it didnt work out, do let me know if you get to know of any other option..thx..ciao